1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to application of sacrificial anodes, particularly for high quality stainless steel alloys (hereafter named RVS).
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, the sacrificial anode consists of a zinc, aluminium or magnesium alloy. A specific field of application of the invention is provided by tubes, conduits, reaction vessels, heat exchangers and different components designed to contain a corroding medium (gas or liquid). With said field of application, the sacrificial anode is present within the relative component such that it is flooded by the corroding medium and can thus do its job. The invention is however also applicable to different metal structures, particularly of steel.
On the one hand a component can be protected against corrosion with the invention (cathodic protection).On the other hand a condition of the component can be measured with the invention, such as the amount of biologic fouling. Besides biologic fouling can be prevented or limited with the invention. For cathodic protection (hereafter named CP), you are referred to guideline NORSOK RP B401 as an example.
Particularly with RVS it is already known, to apply sacrificial anodes with an in series connected resistor or diode for CP. The resistor or diode provides a current limitation. In that manner it is prevented that the sacrificial anode gets exhausted or crumbles, while hydrogen brittleness of the RVS takes place. It is found out that this manner of CP functions well with a constant galvanic conductance/specific resistance of the corroding environment, like (sea) water.